Evaluating the evidence: Can we find authenticated recovered memory?

Abstract

In the waning of the controversy over recovered memories of trauma, the question may be asked, What evidence is there that the phenomenon exists, not in disputed form, hut in accurate and validated form? Because no memory can he authenticated in isolation, some form of corrohoration is required. A single instance of validly recovered memory demonstrates the existence of the phenomenon. Can such a case be found? In search of the answer, a wide variety of case reports is surveyed. Only a few are without major flaws, but those few are provocative because, for the most part, they deviate substantially in context and content from the recovered memories most frequently described in the clinical literature. This casts doubt on the historical authenticity of therapeutically recovered memories and makes relevant for practice the possibility that they represent commentaries about the analytic present and not revelations about the historic past.The debate about recovered memories of trauma appears to be winding down, but before the issue leaves the stage, it might be important to establish whether the phenomenon of memories for trauma that are lost and

Expert Witnesses, Dissociative Amnesia, and Extraordinary Remembering: Response to Brand et al.

“…Our reservations about concepts such as repressed memories or dissociative amnesia are shared by many legal psychologists (Kassin, Tubb, Hosch, & Memon, 2001), research psychologists (Patihis, Ho, Tingen, Lilienfeld, & Loftus, 2014), memory researchers (Patihis, Ho, Loftus, & Herrera, in press), and psychiatrists (Pope, Oliva, Hudson, Bodkin, & Gruber, DISSOCIATIVE AMNESIA AND EXTRAORDINARY REMEMBERING 7 1999;Lalonde, Hudson, Gigante, & Pope, 2001) and align well with critical reviews that appeared in respected journals (e.g., Brenneis, 2000;Loftus, 2003;Porter, Campbell, Birt, & Woodworth, 2003;Takarangi, Polaschek, Garry, & Loftus, 2008;Rofé, 2008;Piper, Lillevik, & Kritzer, 2008). To compare the authors of these articles to those who deny that there is an association between, say, smoking and cancer is not a fruitful contribution to scientific discussion.…”

Does Repression Exist? Memory, Pathogenic, Unconscious and Clinical Evidence

“…In an attempt to defend repression, advocates used clinical cases indicating that child abuse victims may become amnesic of their trauma and that therapeutic interventions may generate a genuine recollection of their repressed traumatic experiences (e.g., see Brenneis, 2000;Cheit, 1998;Kluft, 1995;Martinez-Taboas, 1996). Critics, however, discredit the scientific value of this evidence, claiming that it suffers from fundamental methodological flaws (e.g., McNally, 2003;McNally et al, 2004;Piper, 1999;H.…”

Untitled

“…Brenneis (1996) calls attention to a shift in psychoanalytic language, and in a series of papers (1997,1999,2000), offers a trenchant critique of the clinical and research evidence for recovered memories, whether they are described by analysts or nonanalysts. Brenneis (2000) suggests that the "memory wars" are on the wane. But we think that the residue of the dispute has affected psychoanalytic discourse in various ways:…”

“…The reality of adolescent growth not only involves setting aside childhood beliefs and fantasies but also, in doing so, allows for the experience of reality attuned sources of self-esteem, pleasure, and safety. In our studies of sadomasochism (Novick and Novick,1972,1987, 1996a, 1996b, 1996c, 1997a, 1997b, 1997c, 2000a, 2000b, 2000 we have de-scribed and explored two systems of conflict resolution and self-esteem regulation. One assumes a developmental path in which adaptive solutions to conflict may be achieved throughout life in an open, competent system of self-regulation based on respectful, pleasurable, and mutually enhancing relationships formed through realistic perceptions of separate, autonomous individuals.…”